Monday, September 13, 2010

Any serious Nerf affectionado will tell you that when it comes to Nerf blasters, the ultimate N-Strike blaster is the Longshot CS-6. If you want to talk about fanboys, those who love this blaster are almost religious in their love of this piece and will aggressively argue till the cows come home about its merits compared to practically anything else out there. So.. what is it about the Longshot that makes it the epic blaster of choice for Nerf geeks everywhere?

In its full glory. So long.. it takes up the whole photo frame.

The Longshot CS-6 was originally released back in 2007 in a blue and yellow colour scheme but has been re-released several times over the years with different paint finishes including a rare red scheme and the more traditional N-Strike yellow and orange. Officially It was the first Nerf blaster to introduce the Clip System of ammunition delivery (hence the CS in it's name), allowing for a user to carry multiple plastic 'clips' loaded with up to 6 foam streamlined darts made specifically for the Clip System. The rear of the Longshot has an adjustable, sliding stock that could be extended and locked into place to suit a user's personal preference.

And propped up on its fold out stand.

The blaster uses a bolt-action cocking system and also comes with a secondary blaster attachment that is interchangable with other N-Strike blasters that have detachable barrels. This front blaster was a single shot piece that operated similarly to blasters like the Nitefinder and gave the Longshot a secondary grip for a user to hold on to (or totally disregard as may be more common). With this secondary or "front" blaster attached, the Longshot had some significant size; at the time was considered the longest Nerf blaster until the Longstrike CS-6 was released in 2009.

The Longshot also features a foldable (attached) bipod that could allow the user with more stability against flat surfaces. These days the box includes the Longshot, the secondary front blaster barrel attachment, 2 clips, 12 streamlined darts, and detachable scope that could be attached to the blaster via the tactical rails. (As always, the scope offered no magnification and was pretty much just for show more than anything else- like most tactical rail accessories!)

With the front blaster removed.

Most Nerf affectionados would dismiss the front blaster as being relatively useless and wield the Longshot without it. Aesthetically this meant the blaster had that futuristic "pulse rifle" appearance as seen in fan favourites like the movie "Aliens" or the video game "Halo". It's a very popular blaster for aesthetic mods and any Google search on the internet will return numerous Longshots with unique paint jobs.

In pieces. Sorta like Voltron.

What really makes the Longshot a favourite is the fact that it was the largest (and other than the Stampede, was the last) blaster Nerf released with a “Direct” plunger system to power the blaster. While I’m not that savvy about the internals of Nerf blasters, what this basically means is the Longshot out of the box is more powerful than latter blasters, which use what’s known as a “Reverse” plunger mechanism. Direct plungers are already considered more powerful than reverse plungers without modifications, but WITH modifications you can do some pretty impressive things with the power and accuracy of the blaster.

Longshot on its own. Oh yes. It's got cred in spades.

Nerf affectionados that get into outdoor foam wars are especially interested in improving their overall blaster performance which is why the Longshot is considered to be SUCH a great piece of hardware. Head to head, it’s easier to modify, with greater ranges than its reverse plunger cousins (Recon, Raider, Longstrike, Deploy, Alpha Trooper, etc).

Ironically, for a blaster that has cult status and is loved by so many Nerfers, it's apparently been discontinued, much to the outcry of many. That being said, it's actually readily available ALL over Australia in most toy stores (I told you we get things late here!) so if it's where you wanna be, definitely snap them up while you still can. Between 35 and 70 dollars depending on sale time.

From my take, it’s bulky and uncomfortable to hold. I don’t like the sound it makes when it fires, and it’s never excited me compared to other Nerf blasters out there. I have no doubt it’s an incredible piece of hardware and am glad I have one.. but it’s not my favourite.

Longshot with a Recon barrel. mmm.. nahh.

But... that’s ok too if you disagree and if it’s your all time favourite, because we’re all entitled to our own opinions.

20 comments:

The Longshot has always been my "primary", even after I got the Magstrike and the Rapidfire (Which I think is awesome). And I was rubbish with it haha. My brother, with his Longstrike (He was too nice to use the raider), would often score the first hit. But today I got my Alpha Trooper. The new "Primary".

LOL how can you suck with the rapidfire!?! It's so god damn accurate for its fire rate! Change it to single fire. In games like counter-strike and CoD, you don't hold the down button unless they're right in your face. You click for every shot (or burst...). The Rapidfire works the same way. You can "snipe" someone off from about 8m away with that thing. Or maybe it was just lucky to land three headshots on my brother in a three shot burst =P

Mmm I've played with the Alpha Trooper a bit. And I've been very disappointed actually =/ The bullets curve horribly. They almost complete a full circle before dipping into the ground. I suspect this one has been used as it was removed from the box and everything =/. I've recently opened up the second one and tried that out. Darts fire much straighter. But haven't really played with that one much.

Another finding: the slamfire function actually makes the darts go further and faster.

Overall, it isn't too flash so far, but I'm going to play with the recently unboxed one some more before I really dig into it. I'll let you know later on.

I'm one of those outdoorsy Nerf types, and a relatively good modder and I have to say, you really don't give this gun credit where its due. For your purposes I can see why you don't like it, but as a great all rounder nothing beats a Longshot.

Also, I think you should try modding man, it is enormous fun, even if you don't play around too much with the end product (I certainly do though) the process itself I find immense fun, just start off simple, a Mav or something will do.

Any hints on modding a longshot? I tried and failed miserably after adding an NF spring. It shoots... very hard. Not very far. And not very accurately. It's made me want to just be like Pocket and only use stock blasters lol.

I modded a Mav too but that didn't turn out very well either. Shoots better than what it did... but gosh it wears down fast.

Genericwizardguy;Hear what you're saying and I'll be the first to admit that on all aspects, the Longshot is a great blaster-it just never grabbed me despite it's superiority on multiple levels.

I sort of liken it to a Ferrari- they're an amazing vehicle, noone would ever suggest they're NOT an amazing vehicle, even I believe they're amazing vehicles.. but even if I had the cash to do so, it wouldn't make my top 5.

As for modding, I have muchas respect for people like you who can do it. And I've even considered buying a modded Longshot (got any for sale?) just because I am really curious about how powerful a Nerf blaster REALLY can get.

But, to be honest there's a reason why my girlfriend won't let me touch power tools, install shelves or attempt to build Ikea:) I acknowledge my limitations, and the plastic bag filled with the parts of two gutted Mavericks in my cupboard are proof of my gooberness when it comes to mods:(

Malee Necromancer: Disappointing about your initial play with the Alpha Trooper! I've had several go thru my hands with my own and friends' and they've all been great. Hopefully your other AT is better?:(

As for the Rapidfire- I just can't seem to squeeze off a single round easily. As gentle as I do it, I'm still poppin' off 8 rounds at a time, and half of them seem to just dribble out. I find the air pressure ones are awesome, but I always "blow my load" way too fast and am left standing there empty:P My DX-1000 does it the best, but it's kinda.. ugly:P

That is an interesting image... Pocket "Blowing his load" too early. All interesting images aside, someone's a lead finger. I don't think it's about hitting it gently. You hit it normally but you quickly lift your finger off it. They're probably dribbling out because you're barely pushing the trigger and letting tiny bits of air escape. I dunno. If Bruce ever starts up and I do come down to Canberra to pick them up, maybe I can try out your Rapidfire to see if it's perpetually stuck on Rapidfire mode =P

I had a few more shots with the new Alpha Trooper. It is far better. But because of my first experience, I'm a bit sour. That epic let down never seems to go away. But dw. I'll open that failure up and gut it. Then shove an overpowered spring into it and see what it can do. Hopefully there's nothing wrong with the plunger. Then I'm boned haha.

I'll agree with the assessment that the Longshot is very bulky and isn't as comfortable as the more recent blasters, and I also agree that this is one you're less interested in. Far more than any other springer, its role is to engage at distance, and ya know, I get this feeling you're an up-close-and-personal kind of Nerfer :P

Well I have my verdict on the AT for you. Alpha Trooper with new spring is amazing =P. Invest in a Black Tactical Recon Spring (Yes, it ended up fitting), but you have to remove the black thing on the back that lets you put your Spectre stock on or else it won't prime (Sawing off the tube-like bit that acts as a primed indicator works too I guess. That would allow you to use the Spectre stock).

The stock one has a habit of curving bullets... but I guess that just makes it harder to dodge when I get the aiming right. Overall, I like it. But not as much as I feel I should =P

I don't like the Longshot, purely because of the 'springy' noise they make when shot.Then again, I don't really fight outdoors (my house has a very maximum length of about 12m, if people could float.Hence why I don't punch out AR's anymore. (actually its more because I cbs unscrewing)Glad to finally know someone (albeit someone with the name of 'Pocket') who doesn't like the LS

take a longshot put recon barrel & laser 35 round drum and some practice you have a sniper/machine gun with the cocking mech its real fun to shoot like a recon but FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!awwwwww im out

A toy blaster resource; from a kidult's perspective living in an Australian inner city apartment. Focusing on out- of- the- box foam dart, laser tag and water guns with the odd two player co-op game thrown in for good measure:)